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Netflix and Hulu Streaming Party: August 18 2012

Dennis Brian

10 months ago

Authors occasionally direct films.

The highlights, from my view are probably Mailer’s Beyond the Law and Mamet’s The Winslow Boy.

Somewhere in the middle I would put David Auburn’s The Girl in the Park.

And sadly, somewhere at the bottom I would put Sam Shepard’s Silent Tongue and Maya Angelou’s Down in the Delta.

I apologize to my group for the selection. I had good intentions. I wanted to celebrate the live of the great Al Freeman Jr.

In my defense, he is the highlight here. I love the dignity and steel resolve he gives to line readings; think of that scene where the autistic young lady is jumping all over his medically fragile wife and he states:

“I guess we got to expect some changes around here.”

Or the wonderful scene where he is talking to his grand nephew about the age of the tree.

One other thing to note, the need for chicken discussion rings true and Snipes is good.

Highlights over:

This film is like the Tyler Perry films that don’t have Madea, the one’s lacking the humor and everything but the kitchen sink qualities that make the Madea one’s compelling entertainment.

The red grapefruit thing is cruel.
The son needing to go gangster is laughable.
The music swells far too often and no melodramatic stone is left unturned.

This is a true misfire.

1.5/5

Dennis Brian

10 months ago

ruby stevens

10 months ago

k dennis i’ll watch it so u won’t feel so alone :P but if it is indeed as horrible as u say i might not finish it

Dennis Brian

10 months ago

you might just love it, never know

Ebert loved it

tomas.r​oges

10 months ago

I’ll get to it soon. But you’ve dashed my hopes.

Dennis Brian

10 months ago

ahh nobody ever agrees with me anyway

ruby stevens

10 months ago

haha well that was my hope going in.^ you’re right al freeman is worth watching. i generally like alfre woodard too, not sure what she was thinking here. this is like ghetto hallmark hall of fame. could there be a few more stereotypes? haven’t seen wesley snipes as yet so i should reserve judgement. oh well it’s all good. gotta watch some bad films so we’ll appreciate the good ones right. hey there’s the mom from good times!

Loverof​LeCinem​a

10 months ago

You’ve turned me off from this movie a with your write up, Dennis…

… I’ll give it 30 minutes.

ruby stevens

10 months ago

ok i watched the whole film. wesley snipes was pretty good, i was hoping he’d run off with alfre woodard and cause a scandal :p 1.5/5

JapeMan

10 months ago

There’s no way this movie could have been good IMO lol

I watched about 10 minutes and was like “yeah…. Not for me”

Sorry, Den

Dennis Brian

10 months ago

Lover did you make it past 30?

Ruby, I agree him and Alfre had chemistry.

Did you like much about the film besides Al and Wesley?

Japeman, sorry (:

I was sort of suprised that Mya made this film, seems like the sort of sentimentality she avoids in her writing.